ERNST MACH

ERNST MACH 

When i was visiting Vienna University for an academic conference this week, have just captured the photograph of Prof Ernst Mach (1838-1919) which is at the university garden (City Hall Park). Mach was one of the founding father of theoretical physics in late 19th and early 20th century. His was creating a 'space' for new thinking in philosophy science and speacially in arguing for a different kind of phenomenology which based on "sensationalism". He was well taken by then two main worldly known figures, Lenin and Einstein and responded in different ways. Lenin criticised Mach intervention into the philosophy of science as 'kind of absolute form". Lenin wrote one of the interesting text on this matter, "Materialism and Empirio-Criticism" in 1909. Einstein mentioned Mach's works in his studies and argued that Mach was one of influential figure who should be considered as "the precursor of the general theory of relativity". 

Philip Frank, who has done his doctoral studies under Einstein's supervision and who was the successor of Einstein as the professor of Physics at the University of Prague claimed that Mach's theoretical contributions were heavily influenced on the group of scholars who formed VIENNA CIRCLE in early 20th century. Logical positivism was a kind of philosophy Vienna circle introduced in among to eradicate metaphysical involvement's into the subject of philosophy.